Haitian refugees begin arriving in Tucson

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TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – With so many Haitians arriving at the U.S. and Mexican borders in Texas, some are being dispatched to Tucson for border patrol clearance.

It is estimated that nearly 15,000 Haitian refugees live under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, more than border police can handle.

Some arrive in Tucson by bus, while others arrive by plane. The groups that receive them say it’s pretty intermittent and the numbers are unpredictable.

Officials declined to say how many have arrived in Tucson in the past few days amid some concerns about how well they might be received.

They are being processed in the border protection detention center, which opened in April, near the airport.

As soon as they are processed, they will be sent to Casa Alitas, an accommodation of the Catholic community, which informed us this afternoon that this will not be a long-term operation.

They say it will take a short time for pressure to be relieved along the border in Texas.

The Haitians will only be in Tucson for a short time after they arrive.

“When someone comes here, from either the Haitian or the Central American group, they’ll be here for a day or two at most,” said Steve Kozachik, a member of the Tucson City Council. “You are here until we meet with your next of kin or sponsors.”

The Department of Homeland Security sent us a statement this afternoon stating that the DHS continues to exclude migrants and those who have no legal basis to stay will be placed on an expedited or full deportation process.

It was DHS that asked Catholic community services to clean up the mess in Texas, and once that is done things should get back to normal.

“This is a stain on the radar screen because of what everyone saw in Texas,” Kozachik said. “As soon as we decompress these numbers, we will only go back to Central America.”

He says the situation here in Tucson is “something that is manageable”.

Copyright 2021 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

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